By most accounts, Deep Purple's 1993 European tour was quite a memorable one, not so much for the musical performances, but because it was in the middle of this tour that founding guitarist Ritchie Blackmore left the band for good -- marking the last time the group's classic Mk II lineup ever toured together. With the band supporting the appropriately titled The Battle Rages On... at the time, there are a few latter-day Purple songs included, but to the delight of many fans, the vast majority of 2007's Live in Stuttgart 1993 is comprised of classics. It doesn't sound like the group was resting on its laurels during this advanced stage of its career, either -- as evidenced by a simply ferocious reading of "Speed King," as well as other highlights like the set-opening "Highway Star" and "Knocking at Your Back Door." There may have been some tension behind the scenes at this time, but on the concert stage, Deep Purple were definitely still a functioning unit, as evidenced throughout Live in Stuttgart 1993.© Greg Prato /TiVo

The "difficult second album" is one of the perennial rock & roll clichés, but few second albums ever were as difficult as Use Your Illusion. Not really conceived as a double album but impossible to separate as individual works, Use Your Illusion is a shining example of a suddenly successful band getting it all wrong and letting its ambitions run wild. Taking nearly three years to complete, the recording of the album was clearly difficult, and tensions between Slash, Izzy Stradlin, and Axl Rose are evident from the start. The two guitarists, particularly Stradlin, are trying to keep the group closer to its hard rock roots, but Rose has pretensions of being Queen and Elton John, which is particularly odd for a notoriously homophobic Midwestern boy. Conceivably, the two aspirations could have been divided between the two records, but instead they are just thrown into the blender -- it's just a coincidence that Use Your Illusion I is a harder-rocking record than II. Stradlin has a stronger presence on I, contributing three of the best songs -- "Dust n' Bones," "You Ain't the First," and "Double Talkin' Jive" -- which help keep the album in Stonesy Aerosmith territory. On the whole, the album is stronger than II, even though there's a fair amount of filler, including a dippy psychedelic collaboration with Alice Cooper and a song that takes its title from the Osmonds' biggest hit. But it also has two ambitious set pieces, "November Rain" and "Coma," which find Rose fulfilling his ambitions, as well as the ferocious, metallic "Perfect Crime" and the original version of the power ballad "Don't Cry." Still, it can be a chore to find the highlights on the record amid the overblown production and endless amounts of filler.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

The twin polarities upon which Use Your Illusion has always derived its unique energy from are its absolute bigness and its unparallelled sense of vindictive martyrdom. This deluxe set—which doubles the length of the combined two original albums by including two full live sets—is definitely big, but without the inclusion of additional studio tracks (no demos, b-sides or outtakes) doesn't expand on the original in any meaningful way.  Which means that Illusion is still trapped in its own unique 1991 amber. From its odd sequencing—which alternates between melodramatic grandiosity, midtempo sleaze, and energetic rockers built solely on bitterness and spite—to the stultifying airlessness of the recording (all of the band members cut their parts separately), Illusion still feels like an overdetermined mess that somehow manages to consistently deliver the goods. Sadly though, those goods are steeped in an aimless rage that these days reads less like anti-authoritarianism and more like toxic narcissism. This is an album that gets out a "fuck you" in its first two minutes, and devolves from there into a master class on petty beefing: Whether it's "Right Next Door To Hell," "Get In the Ring," "My World" (ugh), "Back Off Bitch" (ugggghh), or any of the other tracks where poor Axl Rose blames all of his problems on everyone else in the world, the constant airing of tiny grievances is far more deadening than the set's length. All of this made Use Your Illusion a deeply cynical yet completely sincere work. Although it's incredibly indulgent and self-centered, it's almost certainly an accurate representation of the band's perception of the world at the time. Its deep currents of misogyny were both casual and aggressive, but also completely unapologetic, which is both alarming and pathetic. Sounds like a terrible album, right? It most definitely is not. Weirdly conceived and recorded? For sure. Problematic? Yup. Highly individual and completely non-reproducible by any other band on Earth? Absolutely. Even now, some 30 years later, it still manages to yield treasures. Tracks that were overlooked in the overwhelming onslaught of the original release are well worth revisiting; the druggy blues-rock of "Bad Obsession, "Locomotive" with its sideways reworking of "Welcome to the Jungle," "The Garden" (which sounds like a leftover from the first Masters of Reality album with an Alice Cooper rap shoved in the bridge), or the Duff McKagan-penned Johnny Thunders tribute "So Fine" all hold up remarkably well. The live shows are revelatory: The Use Your Illusion tour was as extravagant and overblown as the album(s) it was promoting, running for nine legs over 30 months with nearly 200 dates played.  It was truly one of the last of its kind from an on-the-charts rock 'n' roll band, represented here by a warmup theater gig at the Ritz in New York in May, 1991, and an arena show on the UNLV campus as the tour was running at full speed eight months later. Remarkably, both sets exhibit a warm and generous band giving their absolute all to the fans in attendance, turning the somewhat clinical performances of Illusion's album versions into explosive renditions on stage. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

That’s a hell of a list. With such famous friends, Sheryl Crow has turned Threads into an incredibly impressive collaborative album. The 5-star casting is wonderfully eclectic. From Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones to Public Enemy’s Chuck D., Willie Nelson, St. Vincent, Sting, Emmylou Harris, Lucius, Mavis Staples, Stevie Nicks, James Taylor, Jason Isbell and even her ex, Eric Clapton, the American singer crosses over stylistic and generational boundaries, highlighting her own colourful musical identity. Over the course of her ten previous albums, Sheryl Crow has slalomed between rock’n’roll, pop, country, blues and soul, never settling down in one genre. Such is the case again on Threads, even if the general atmosphere remains rooted in a rather classical rock’n’roll. When she topped the charts in the early 90s, this classicism already stood out next to her contemporaries such as Nirvana, Beck and The Smashing Pumpkins... Crow composed the bulk of the songs on this record, as well as adding some exceptionally tasty covers to the mix (George Harrison’s Beware of Darkness, Bob Dylan’s Everything is Broken, The Worst by the Rolling Stones, Kris Kristofferson’s Border Lord). Her prose on this record is more introspective than ever, taking on an almost confessional tone. Perhaps something to do with her recent shocking statement: Threads will be her last record! While we wait to find out if she will ever reconsider, Sheryl Crow signs her densest work at the age of 57. © Max Dembo/Qobuz

As a suburban California kid, DJ Shadow tended to treat hip-hop as a musical innovation, not as an explicit social protest, which goes a long way toward explaining why his debut album, Endtroducing....., sounded like nothing else at the time of its release. Using hip-hop, not only its rhythms but its cut-and-paste techniques, as a foundation, Shadow created a deep, endlessly intriguing world on Endtroducing....., one where there are no musical genres, only shifting sonic textures and styles. Shadow created the entire album from samples, almost all pulled from obscure, forgotten vinyl, and the effect is that of a hazy, half-familiar dream -- parts of the record sound familiar, yet it's clear that it only suggests music you've heard before, and that the multi-layered samples and genres create something new. And that's one of the keys to the success of Endtroducing.....: it's innovative, but it builds on a solid historical foundation, giving it a rich, multifaceted sound. It's not only a major breakthrough for hip-hop and electronica, but for pop music.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Deep Purple's definitive Mark II lineup reunited for 1984's Perfect Strangers. It is one of the better examples of a reunion album, although the band's uneasy camaraderie only lasted a few more years. "Knocking at Your Back Door" opens the album with a roar. Ian Gillan's lyrics don't make much sense, but Ritchie Blackmore's guitar riffs and Ian Paice's thunderous drumming carry this song as well as the rest of the album. The robotic rhythm of the title cut relies on Jon Lord's organ work. The 1999 remastered reissue features the bonus track "Son of Alerik." This fascinating, mid-tempo, ten-minute instrumental was the B-side of the "Perfect Strangers" 12" single in the U.K.© Bret Adams /TiVo

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By the end of the '90s, artists realized that CD and CD-R bootlegs of live performances were in high demand, which meant that they could profit by officially releasing certain "special" live performances. Portishead's one-night stand at New York City's Roseland Ballroom, released as PNYC, certainly qualifies as one of those "special" occasions. Performing with a 35-piece orchestra, Portishead runs through selections from its two albums, favoring its second slightly. On the surface, it doesn't seem like the orchestra would add much to the performances, especially since the arrangements remain similar, but its presence makes the music tense, dramatic, and breathtaking. This is especially true of the material from Portishead. On album, several of these songs sounded a little flat, but here they soar right alongside such staples as "Mysterons," "Sour Times," and "Glory Box." That alone doesn't necessarily make PNYC revelatory -- instead, it deepens a listener's understanding of the artist, much like the Tindersticks' The Bloomsbury Theatre. Which means, of course, that PNYC is much more compelling and essential than the average live album.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

Formed in 1999, The National is composed of Matt Berninger, the Dessnet brothers and the Devendorf brothers. In 2007, the band from Ohio released one of their greatest albums, the fourth: Boxer. Eleven years later, they bring it back into the spotlight with this live recorded in Brussels and perform the entirety of the disc. But yielding to increasing demands, The National also opted for an official release. Faithful to the first version, the band keeps almost the same visual for the cover, a picture of them on stage at the wedding of producer Peter Katis. The quintet perfectly perform here from beginning to end, for a faithful and responsive audience. Opening with Fake Empire, a small musical prowess of which we like the destructured aspect, mainly in the association of pop keyboards playing off-beat with Berninger’s voice. An obvious alchemy with Brainy on which the guitars, the bass and the drum perfectly harmonize in some kind of musical discussion. Up to the last track Gospel, there is some sort of hypnotic charm at play, notably thanks to the contrast of this deep voice on a light and intense melody. © Anna Coluthe/Qobuz